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With the SD loss, the Nats are 3rd wild card by percentage points over San Diego.
We'll be able to start a new winning streak on Friday...
MLB lists the Friars in the 3rd WC spot...presumably because the percentages to the 3rd decimal are apparently identical, and they have 2 wins in hand.https://www.mlb.com/standings/wild-card/league
Yeah, their win pct is .4933, the Nats .4930
2. The best Nats team since that Nats teamThe Nats have, famously, struggled ever since they won the World Series in 2019. They’ve finished last in the NL East every year since then. But the moves they’ve been putting together are beginning to pay off, and the Nats are surprisingly just a half-game out of an NL Wild Card spot. The team’s best player has been CJ Abrams, who was the centerpiece of the Juan Soto trade and has now firmly established himself as one of the better shortstops in the National League. But the Nats are getting contributions from all sorts of young players, many of whom are starring on defense, from center fielder Jacob Young (24) to Abrams (23) to Luis García Jr. (24). Their two best pitchers are both in their 20s: Jake Irvin (27) and MacKenzie Gore (25) who, on the right night, can resemble a top-of-the-rotation ace.They’re also getting surprising contributions from veterans, the sort that can put your team over the top, like closer Kyle Finnegan, magical journeyman Ildemaro Vargas (having the best year of his career at 32) and, most impressively, Jesse Winker, who was an All-Star in 2021, struggled mightily in '22, was hurt throughout '23 and is now back to his top form at the age of 30 in '24. (He's done all that for four teams, a different team each year.) Those vets might have been initially thought of as midseason trade bait, but now, well, they’re the clubhouse leaders of a team with a legitimate shot at making the playoffs.More to the point, the future looks bright. And the present doesn’t look half bad either.
San Diego series will be interesting. That's a much better team on paper that is a direct competitor for a WC spot.
NOTE. It has been years since anyone here mentioned a series as being important, or vital, or interesting. Probably not since that Padres series in 2021.
